


Courage For The Changing Of The Guards

by Annie_Is_A_Contranym



Series: AM2015tumblrshorts [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bodyguard Derek, M/M, Popstar Stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-22
Packaged: 2018-03-08 14:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3212357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annie_Is_A_Contranym/pseuds/Annie_Is_A_Contranym
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pop sensation Stiles wants his bodyguard Derek but Derek can't stand his young charge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Courage For The Changing Of The Guards

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah... so obviously I'm experiencing difficulty with the definition of 'short' but I never meant to write this much. Sometimes the stories have their way with me - you know? Hope you enjoy it.

                                                                        

Stiles Stilinski stared out at the city lights from his penthouse apartment.  The view never failed to impress him.  He loved staying in New York but was so tired of hotel life. It’s what prompted him to buy his own place there even though he probably only spent three months out of twelve in the city. He had to admit it was a good buy though. Coming back to it after doing a live performance felt like coming home a little.

He glanced at the clock. A few minutes after two in the morning, it was officially his birthday. Later tonight his agent was hosting a twenty-fifth birthday bash at a popular hot spot for celebrities, and knowing Kate, he was sure there was going to be plenty of fodder for the paparazzi.  The tabloids had been speculating for weeks on what crazy shenanigans would mark the celebration given that he had a bit of a reputation for unusual requests and silly demands.

Stiles just felt tired though. He’d been sixteen when a silly YouTube entry in a contest led to a record deal and what seemed to be a permanent place at the top of the pop charts.  In the beginning, he’d loved the madness, but the novelty had worn off a long time ago. With each new platinum song, the challenge to shock and excite audiences with not just his music but his antics had become more and more difficult, but Kate insisted that it was very essential to his career. Pushing boundaries however had lost its appeal and he did it with less and less enthusiasm these days. Playing the temperamental bad boy of pop music, deliberately creating one scandal after another for the tabloids, wasn’t fun anymore. The magic was gone and he wanted a regular life again. And Derek…he wanted Derek.

In the background, Stiles could hear Derek going through the rooms. Any minute now, he’d come to bid Stiles goodnight and goodbye until he came back on shift to take him to his birthday party, and Stiles would be alone again with only his thoughts for company. That particular thought tied his stomach into knots.  He didn’t want to be alone. He wanted Derek to stay with him, to look at him and see, not the spoilt petulant brat everyone thought he’d become, but the scared young man who so desperately wanted his love.

He walked over to the couch and sank down on it. For the past six years Derek was the only constant in his life, even if he did put up with him only because he was paid to.  Stiles dropped his head back onto the plush cushions and stared into the white expanse of the ceiling.

Derek watched him from the doorway after glancing at his watch. The little holy terror had insisted that Derek come inside and search all the rooms for non-existent threats. Most days he couldn’t believe he’d left the Secret Service for this.  It didn’t matter though. It was over. The birthday party was his last gig with the brat. Tomorrow morning, he’d hand in his resignation. He hadn’t signed the contract with BH Software yet but he couldn’t deal with the antics for another minute. He could find another babysitter and give him the bogus title of bodyguard.

He couldn’t believe he’d once thought that Stiles was a sweet misunderstood kid who’d been forced to grow up too fast, a money making machine for his greedy parents and his over ambitious agent. He rolled his eyes at his stupidity. Stiles Stilinski was an adult who knew what he was doing, and exactly what he wanted.

The young man turned his head to the side and his eyes caught Derek’s and Derek’s heart skipped. There was something about those whiskey coloured pools that always got him right in the gut. Stiles may be obstinate, reckless, and self-absorbed but he was also lean, with pale skin begging to be marked, lips that were pink and inviting, and to his disgust, Derek hadn’t stopped thinking about him from the moment he met him.

Stiles gestured him over with a jerk of his head and Derek thought that there was something disconnected about the way Stiles was looking at him. He took in the glassy sheen to his eyes and the incessant drumming of his fingers against the back of the sofa.  Stiles seemed uncharacteristically nervous and not his brash confident self.  His lips were trembling – it was barely noticeable but Derek did notice it.

Was he high? Going through withdrawal? Derek had never actually seen Stiles take any drugs (he certainly would have shut him down if he had), but he had his suspicions at times. Stiles had been moodier than ever lately and most of the people he hung out with were nothing but junkie losers riding his coattails for all the smack they could mooch.

Derek walked over to stand in front of Stiles before saying, “I have to talk to you.”

"Awesome" he smiled. "Have a seat dude. Want anything to drink?"

Stiles got up off of the couch and walked toward the wet bar. “I think there should be beer or at least soda.”

"I’m not staying Stiles. I just wanted…umm," Derek hesitated. He didn’t know why it suddenly seemed so difficult to tell him he was leaving.   

"C’mon man.” Stiles cajoled. “Please. Hang with me a while."

"Why?" Derek wanted to know.

"Why?" echoed Stiles.

Derek just raised an eyebrow in response. Stiles sighed, annoyance flashing in his eyes and moved back to the couch grabbing hold of Derek’s arm to drag him towards the couch.

"I thought I was off the clock as of an hour ago," he muttered, staring at those pale long fingers on his arm.

Stiles pulled back abruptly, and couldn’t hide the wounded look in his eyes.

"Whatever." He tried to keep the hurt of his voice but Derek knew him too well for him to pull it off and felt the smallest twinge of regret.

"Actually, I did want to talk to you."

"So you said." His voice was flat.  "Go ahead."

"Okay." Derek sat down on the other end of the couch. Steeling himself, he said bluntly, "I’m leaving, Stiles. I’m giving Kate my letter of resignation after your party, but I wanted to tell you personally."

“What?” Stiles sat up, his face a portrait of fear and confusion. “Why? I don’t understand. Fuck Derek,  do you want more money? I’ll tell Kate. Any amount you want. We’ll —”

"It’s not the money," Derek denied.

"Then what is it? Why are you leaving?" Stiles bit his lip as if to stop more words from spilling out.

"I’ve been doing this too long. I need more of a challenge."

“ _I’m not enough of a challenge_?” Stiles was incredulous.

Derek couldn’t help the smile. “I’m taking a position as head of security for a major software company.”

"No way,” Stiles scooted across the couch closer to him. "You can’t. You’d hate it. You’ll be bored. You will."

"I don’t think so. I’m actually looking forward to this."

Stiles stared at him for a long moment, those whiskey eyes glassing over, and then whispered, “Please don’t leave me.”

Derek’s stomach did funny things at how broken he sounded. “Come on. Kate will have another bodyguard so fast you won’t —”

"I don’t want anyone else. I want you."

Stiles lifted himself and straddled Derek, wrapping his arms around the bodyguard’s neck.  “Don’t leave me Derek,” he whispered and brushed his lips across Derek’s jaw.

Derek tried to pry his arms away. “Don’t do this.”

Stiles didn’t listen but instead sucked Derek’s lower lip into his mouth.

Pushing back more roughly than he’d intended Derek broke the kiss and held him at arm’s length. Well as much as was possible considering Stiles was still in his lap. “Stop, Stiles.”

 "You want me Derek." Stiles cradled his face and looked him in the eyes. "I’ve seen the way you’ve watched me."

"It’s my job to watch you."

"Not the way you watch me." Stiles’ mouth curved in a knowing smile. Grabbing at Derek’s shirt, he tried to kiss him, but Derek jerked his head back. He was about to make a cutting remark but the vulnerability he saw in the pop star’s eyes prompted him to a gentleness he knew he would regret.

"You can have anyone you want. Why are you doing this?"

"I don’t want anyone else."

"You only want what you can’t have."

Anger flashed across the younger man’s face, and then he blinked, slowly, as if grappling for control. “No. I’m not that person.”

"I’ve spent every day of the last six years with you Stiles; you are exactly that person."

Stiles made a pained sound – not quite a gasp, not quite a cry – and then slid off Derek’s lap.  He crawled back to the other end of the couch, drawing up his knees and hugging them to his chest. That twinge of regret Derek had felt earlier grew a little stronger.  

 ”You don’t know me,” Stiles muttered.

"I see you every single day."

Stiles shook his head. “No. You’re  _with me_  every single day, but you don’t  _see_  me at all. You don’t see me because you’re afraid to want me. If you did see me, you’d never be able to walk away from me.”

Derek took a long look at him. He looked miserable but sincere. Stiles was being earnest and it scared him. “We live in different worlds. For me this is only a job. For you, this is your life. I don’t want this life.”

Stiles blinked and leaned forward until his chin rested on his knees. “I don’t want it either,” his voice was soft, barely audible.

Floored, Derek had no response to that. He couldn’t believe that Stiles had been unhappy with his life. Yet thinking back, he realised that the young man had, in fact, cut back on the partying and the extreme antics. In fact he only went out in public when Kate forced him to. Of course once out and about, he played his part so well, Derek had never even realised that it was just that - a role he played.   

"You chose this life. You could have done anything with your talent but you chose this."

"Damn it man! I was a sixteen year old ADHD social outcast, living in a small town… What would you have done differently? Said no to escaping? Turn down the offer of making more money than you’d ever dreamed of, even though your middle class public servant father was drowning in so much debt from your dead mother’s medical bills, that you could never afford college without scholarships - scholarships that you weren’t going to get, because hello…ADHD? Haven’t you ever made a bad choice because you wanted something that much?… We all make mistakes …Anyone can change."

Derek believed him. Looking at the tired, young man huddled on the couch, Derek thought that he was nothing like the willful, spoilt pop star the world (and Derek) thought him to be. Maybe he’d been wrong about a lot of things.…

"I’ve got a question for you," he said. "Don’t take it the wrong way, I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m just curious. Have you ever used drugs?"

The horrified look on his face was all the answer Derek needed. “I did some weed once when I was a teenager but it made me sick. Nothing else though. What about you?

 ”Nah.” He shook his head. ” I had wanted to work for the Secret Service since I was a kid and doing drugs would have killed any hope I had of getting in. I did try smoking in college for a bit, but it interfered with my workout regimen”

"What was it like?" Stiles asked

"Smoking?"

"College."

There was a yearning in Stiles’ voice and in his eyes that he didn’t understand. “Why?”

Stiles hesitated but put on a carefree expression and shrugged. “I was just wondering.”

Derek didn’t buy it.

"You should go." he suggested. "You have enough money now to do whatever you want, for as long as you want. And as of next month I know your contracts begin to expire. Pick something. Start there. Start over."

Stile looked so hopeful. He was tempted to believe he could do just that. “Is that what you’re doing? Starting over?”

"Yes." Derek was honest. "I feel things I shouldn’t and if I stay any longer…Stiles…it won’t be that I act on them. It will be that I’ll begin to hate you and us. I need to leave before I can’t stand you at all. It’s a pretty close thing as it is."

Stiles blinked away the hurt. “Then you should go. Don’t worry about the party tonight. I’m not in the mood and it’ll be classic Stiles to blow off his own birthday shindig. Thank you for the last six years Derek. You were the best part of my life. I’ll miss you. I know you won’t believe me but I love you. I have loved you for so long. A part of me always will.”

Derek got up and walked the two steps to stand in front of Stiles. He knelt down in front of the young man and gently cradled his face in his hands.

"In another world, I would love you back with everything in me. I’m sorry for how things worked out but I’m not sorry I met you. Thank you for letting me share your life and for letting me be important to you."

He leaned in and pressed his lips to Stiles in the most tender of kisses. Stiles gasped, parting his lips and inadvertently deepening the kiss. His hands came up to sink into Derek’s hair and he returned the kiss wholeheartedly. They kissed each other with passion and with care, tasting and savouring, cataloguing and memorizing every sensation. When they eventually parted, Derek pressed a quick peck on the tip of Stiles’ nose.

"I’ve been with you since you were nineteen. It’s time we both found the courage for the changing of the guards. I am trusting you to you Stiles. Look after yourself better than I have. Happy Birthday Love."

With one final kiss, Derek was gone, leaving Stiles alone on the couch in the darkness.

…

_Epilogue: Two years later…_

Stiles laughed with his classmates as they left the lecture hall. A year and a half into his Sociology degree, he was happy with his life in a way he had never been before. He had taken Derek’s words to heart and quit the business to go back to school. Oh, he still loved writing music but he knew he’d never work the industry again. He had become close to his dad once more and was rediscovering the joys of family. Though he had a lot of friends now, he didn’t date. He wasn’t ready for new romance in his life; still too hung up on the old one.

"Hubba hubba," his friend Heather said. "Check out the hottie over by the elm tree. I’d like to climb him like a tree."

"Slut." Stiles teased but then his whole body seized when he saw who she meant.

"Oh shit," Heather continued. "Is he coming over here?"

He was.

Derek walked up to where Stiles and his group had stopped.”

"Hey," he said, stopping in front of Stiles.

"Hey," Stiles returned.

"I know it’s been a while, but I was wondering if you’d like to get coffee sometime."

"Coffee?" Stiles was thrown by the fact Derek was actually standing in front of him; he could hardly process that it seemed as if Derek was asking him out. "Like on a date?"

Derek shrugged. “Coffee, dinner, movie, marriage - whatever you feel like.”

Stiles grinned and dropped his backpack. He stepped towards Derek and then jumped into his arms, wrapping his legs around Derek’s waist. Derek caught him and held him close.

"I missed you," he grinned back, his words muffled by Stiles’ mouth on his own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
